Open and Civil Political Discourse in Manassas

Chelsea MA Welcome To Manassas VA @2004

“The national immigration crisis on the United States’ southern border is now impacting Massachusetts.

Tens of thousands of children have come across the border on their own in the past year. Many of them are now finding their way to communities around Boston.

Chelsea is ground zero for this wave of children, many undocumented immigrants, coming from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.

“There’s been a dramatic increase for us from January of this year through the closing of schools which was last week,” says Chelsea Schools Superintendent Dr. Mary Bourque.

Schools in this city are bursting at the seams. At the start of this past school year, Chelsea had 5500 students. They ended with 6200. 285 of those new students came from outside the country. While another 75 arrived through Texas and Arizona, home to the crowded detention centers where the children are being housed as they cross. …”